My chest tightens. They came.
Inside, the place is dim and buzzing with low conversation. Pool table in the corner. Bar along one wall. Patches and history and violence hanging from every surface.
At the center of it stands Wrath.
President of the Saint’s Outlaws Bella Vista chapter. We have done business back and forth for years. We don’t deal with many chapters of the Saint’s but we don’t have a beef with any of them and that’s what matters most.
Wrath is a calculating man. Broad shoulders. Gray at his temples. Eyes that miss nothing.
He steps forward as I approach. “Miles,” he greets.
“Yeah.”
He grips my forearm once. “Sorry our planned meet for this trip wasn’t sooner.”
“Tell me you found her.”
His jaw tightens. “We found her car.”
My stomach drops. “Where?”
“Back road off the highway. About twelve miles or a little more from the hospital.”
The room goes quiet around us. “What about it?” I demand.
Wrath gestures to a table where photos are spread out. I step closer.
Danae’s car. Driver’s side door closed. Windows up. Sitting alone on a shoulder like it just gave up.
“She pull over?” I ask.
“That’s what it looked like,” Wrath explains. “At first.”
He points to a photo of the dashboard. “They popped the hood.” Next photo—wires.
“Electrical system was tampered with,” he continues. “Clean work. Professional.”
I swallow hard. “What does that mean?”
“It means the car didn’t just die.”
The words slam into me. “It was shut down,” Grinder says from behind me. “Remotely.”
“How the hell?—?”
“Modern cars are computers,” he cuts in. “If someone knows what they’re doing, they can access the system. Kill ignition. Disable functions.”
My vision narrows. “So they planned it,” I state the obvious.
Wrath nods once. “She pulled over. They were waiting.”
The room tilts.
“We think she was taken,” Country Boy adds quietly. “Just can’t figure out why.”
Taken.
The word echoes in my skull.
